麦をふるう女たち

Courbet painted this over the winter of 1853 into 1854, back home in the small town of Ornans. The three people sifting grain were his own family. The two women are his sisters Zoe and Juliette, and the boy peering into the machine is his illegitimate son, Desire. At the time a canvas this size was reserved for history or religion, not for country people doing farm work, and Courbet gave the labour that scale on purpose. The young woman kneeling in the strong red dress does the physical work at the centre, while another slumps tired to one side. Nantes bought the painting in 1861, and it has stayed in the city's museum since.